The Trans-Caspian transport route is many things to the many states involved. Transporting goods from Europe to China and back–at the moment crossing through Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan (as well as both the Black and Caspian Seas)–is an alternative to the Russian route. The clearest rationale behind the recent focus on the route is political, but that’s not the …

KUWAIT/ AFP Kuwait and Italy will finalise a multi-billion-euro deal next week for the Gulf state to purchase Eurofighter jets, Kuwait’s defence minister has said. Sheikh Khaled Jarrah Al-Sabah did not specify the number of planes involved in the deal but the Eurofighter consortium said in September that Kuwait had agreed to buy 28 fighter jets. “Italian Defence Minister Roberta …

New York / AFP US aerospace giant Boeing’s shares dived amid speculation that regulators are investigating its accounting for its 787 and 747 aircraft. In midday trade, shares in the Dow member were down about 10 percent at $104.44. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has opened a probe on Boeing’s profitability forecasts for the long-haul 787 and 747 jetliners, …